Breadcrumb

Top 100 Movie Quotes

100 of the best, most famous movie quotes in American cinema

To celebrate their hundredth anniversary, the American Film Institute ran a series of programs starting in 2005, discussing and honoring 100 years of American cinema. As part of the commemoration, the members they surveyed produced an all-star list of famous quotes from westerns, to crime thrillers, war movies, and more. We've reproduced the list below, as well as adding some trivia and fun facts about the selections.

Only time will tell which quotes from the 2010s will stand the test of time.

The List

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." - Gone With the Wind, 1939

"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse." - The Godfather, 1972Fun fact: This line makes it into each Godfather film in some way or another.

"You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am." - On the Waterfront, 1954

"Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." - The Wizard of Oz, 1939Fun fact: As one of the most famous movie quotes in film history, this line has been parodied by many different movies and television shows.

"Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." - All About Eve, 1950

"You talking to me?" - Taxi Driver, 1976Fun fact: Robert DeNiro improvised this line. The script only said "Travis speaks to himself in the mirror" so DeNiro took some liberties and was ultimately successful.

"Love means never having to say you're sorry." - Love Story, 1970Fun fact: Two years later Ryan O'Neal will hear this line again in the film What's Up Doc when Barbara Streisand says it to his character and respond, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"The stuff that dreams are made of." - The Maltese Falcon, 1941

"E.T. phone home." - E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, 1982

"They call me Mister Tibbs!" - In the Heat of the Night, 1967

"Rosebud." - Citizen Kane, 1941

"Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" - White Heat, 1949

"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" - Network, 1976

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." - Casablanca, 1942

"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti." - The Silence of the Lambs, 1991

"Bond. James Bond." - Dr. No, 1962

"There's no place like home." - The Wizard of Oz, 1939

"I am big! It's the pictures that got small." - Sunset Blvd., 1950

"Show me the money!" - Jerry Maguire, 1996

"Why don't you come up sometime and see me?" - She Done Him Wrong, 1933

"I'm walking here! I'm walking here!" - Midnight Cowboy, 1969

Fun fact: This scene was improvised. Midnight Cowboy filmed in New York City so the taxi in the shot is an actual New York taxi. Remaining in character Hoffman yells at the driver and the scene made the cut in the film.

"Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.'" - Casablanca, 1942

"You can't handle the truth!" - A Few Good Men, 1992

"I want to be alone." - Grand Hotel, 1932

"After all, tomorrow is another day!" - Gone With the Wind, 1939

"Round up the usual suspects." - Casablanca, 1942

"I'll have what she's having." - When Harry Met Sally, 1989

"You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow." - To Have and Have Not, 1944

"You're gonna need a bigger boat." - Jaws, 1975

"Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!" - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948

"I'll be back." - The Terminator, 1984

"Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." - The Pride of the Yankees, 1942

"If you build it, he will come." - Field of Dreams, 1989

"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." - Forrest Gump, 1994

"We rob banks." - Bonnie and Clyde, 1967

"Plastics." - The Graduate, 1967

"We'll always have Paris." - Casablanca, 1942

"I see dead people." - The Sixth Sense, 1999Fun fact: When Haley Joel Osmet says this line the camera goes to Bruce Willis's face. This is a cinematic clue that Bruce Willis's character is dead.

"Stella! Hey, Stella!" - A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951

"Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." - Now, Voyager, 1942

"Shane. Shane. Come back!" - Shane, 1953

"Well, nobody's perfect." - Some Like It Hot, 1959

"It's alive! It's alive!" - Frankenstein, 1931Fun fact: The original line was "It's alive! It's alive! In the name of God! Now I know what it's like to be God!" Censors cut Dr. Frankenstein's full line because it was considered sacrilege.

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." - Casablanca, 1942

"Here's Johnny!" - The Shining, 1980Fun fact: This line was completely improvised. Jack Nicholson was only prompted to break down the door, but he decided to improvise this line and it made the final cut of the movie.

"Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make." - Dracula, 1931

"Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast." - King Kong, 1933Fun Fact: The King Kong roar was a combination of a lion and tiger's roar combined and played backward very slowly.

"My precious." - The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers, 2002

"Attica! Attica!" - Dog Day Afternoon, 1975

"Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" - 42nd Street, 1933

"Listen to me, mister. You're my knight in shining armor. Don't you forget it. You're going to get back on that horse, and I'm going to be right behind you, holding on tight, and away we're gonna go, go, go!" - On Golden Pond, 1981

"Tell 'em to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper." - KnuteRockne All American, 1940

"A martini. Shaken, not stirred." - Goldfinger, 1964​Fun fact: This iconic scene has been parodied over and over again. In Casino Royale, 42years later, Daniel Craig's James Bond will be asked, "Shaken or stirred" and Bond responds "Do I look like I give a damn?"

"Who's on first." - The Naughty Nineties, 1945

"Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac...It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole!"- Caddyshack, 1980

"Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" - Auntie Mame, 1958

Infoplease knows the value of having sources you can trust. Infoplease is a reference and learning site, combining the contents of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas and several almanacs loaded with facts. Our editors update and regularly refine this enormous body of information to bring you reliable information.